The Real Deal Los Angeles

California exodus reinvigorated Nevada city

The mass exodus of Californians being priced out of their homes has helped rebuild the town of Henderson, Nevada, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The city suffered when housing prices crashed during the recession, but it has come back with a vengeance thanks to an influx of people from the Golden State.

California has been losing more residents than it gains from neighboring states for years, but few places have been as affected as Henderson. Its population surged 20 percent over the last decade, transforming it into Nevada’s second-most populous city with more than 300,000 people, ahead of Reno.

Fifty-six percent of new arrivals in Henderson between 2013 and 2017 came from California. At the 1,300-acre MacDonald Highlands community, Californians accounted for about 70 percent of purchases in 2018, up from 30 percent two decades ago.

Average housing prices in the Las Vegas metro area rose from $120,000 in 2012 to $278,000 in 2019, according to Zillow. About 47 percent of Vegas-area residents can afford those higher prices in 2019, down from 88 percent just after the recession.

Home prices are cooling in Southern California. But there aren’t many signs that the exodus will slow, as the cost of living continues to be unaffordable for many residents. The median home price in California soared 83 percent between 2012 and 2018. And buying a house is unaffordable to all but 28 percent of the state’s population, according to the California Association of Realtors. [WSJ] – Gregory Cornfield